Foam-system mixer connecter



March 19, 1929- A R. ERWIN ET AL I 1,705,608

FOAM SYSTEM MIXER CONNECTER y Filed April 8, 1921 I I l i \\m m11 f ATIORNEYS ums Patented Mar. 19, 192,9.VV i

" A ulairlszn 4STATES PATENT GFFEQE ORLANDO R. ERWIN, OE VEoREsTY HILLS, NEW YORK, AND WILLIS D. WITTER, OE'

RosELLE PARK, NEW JERSEY, AssIsNoRs, BY MEsNE ASSIGNMENTS. To AMERICAN LA FRANCE AND EOAMITE CORPORATION, A CORPORATION oE NEW YORK. y

. l FOAM-SYSTEM MIXER CONNECTER.

Apimeation mea April s,

.This invention is an improved construction fof hose connecter and mixer for use on the duplex hose lines of foam fire extinguishing systems and its object is to provide a con- 5 necting and mixing device of small, compact l form and extremely light in weight, so lthat it will 'not form a drag on the lines when they are being pulled along tothe fire and while yet adequately strong to resist the rough usage to which such connecters are necessarily subject, while also providing for the production of the foam by the impingement method, that is to say by the impingement of a flow of one solution counter to the flow of the other solutionV within the interior of the connecter device. Mixers heretofore used in foam hose lines have consisted of a simple Y-form connecterin which impingement does not occur and the benefits of the impingement method have not been capable of convenient use in such connecters because of the relatively large size of the potlike chamber in which the mixing is effected According to my invention the impingement method of mixing the solutions is effectively carried out in a device which is actually smaller than the non-imp-inging Y- form connecters above referred to, and which can accordingly be used with far greater convenience. piece casting formed witha relatively large outlet or mixing chamber open in one direction and two adjacent inlet chambers open in' the opposite direction and having communication with the outlet chamber respectively at opposite sides thereof, the longitudinal axes of all three chambers being parallel to each othery and the maximum diameter vof the outlet. chamber being not substantially greater than the interior diameter of the coupling and foam-conducting hose to be connected thereto.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross section of the improved mixer-connecter. Fig. 2 a to-p plan thereof. Fig. 3 a side elevation; and Fig. 4 represents its manner'of use.

Referring first to Fig. 4, the mixer-connecter, there marked v10, is shown intervening f between the two solution hose-lines 26 'and 27 (combined in a ysingle casing 28) and a short hose or pipe section 18 to which it is connected by a coupling nut 19. The hose lines 26 and 27 are respectively connected to pipes 29 and 30 constituting the supply source of The invention consists of a one-l Vdischarge ports 16 and 17 are formed in these,

' about twice'the .diameter ofthe inlet chamter of which approximates that of the outlet 1921i v sei-iai' No. 459,576.v

the two foam-making solutions. lThe short; 55 y hose section 18 terminates in a nozzle-2O and this section is preferably a short section, as n stated, because the vtwo solutions meet kand* produce the foam lin the connecter'lO and vit is desirable that the foam there produced be discharged immediately andbe not required to passthrough a long hose or pipe, which would tend to impair its quality.l AIn consequence of this condition thev connecter 10 requires to be located within a few feet of the discharge nozzle, being, in fact, a part of the deliveryend of the duplex lhose line. It is thereforedesirable that such connecter be las compact and as light as possible, so that it can be freely pulled'about -as the nozzle is carried about by the fireman.

lAs shown in the other figures of the drawing, the new mixer-connecter is a one-piece casting'. The two inlet chambers 11 and 12 are parallel to each other and both open in the same direction and both are disposed on opposite sides of the central mixing and outlet chamber 13 which latter chamber is parallelV to the others but opensv in the opposite direction. The two inlet chambers 11'and 12 are disposed as closely together as will permit manipulation of their respective cou pler nuts 21 and 22 and the portions of their side walls which are marked 14 and 15 form f v parts of the side walls of the outlet vchamber 85 13. The bottom of said outlet chamber 13 kis trough-shaped in section, as indicated in Fig. 3 and the wall portions ljust referred to form the ends of the trough. Thesolution saine wall portions, at the ends of the trough and so as to direct the solutions into im-j Vpinging contact in the bottom of the trough. The trough shape off the outlet chamber merges into a cylindrical shape at .its outer end, just beyond the inletchambers where it is about twice the ydiameter of eitherof said chambers. It is threaded l(19') at this outer cylindrical end so that itfmay be coupled to the lhose section '18, which section is also;

bers. It will'be noted also that theoutlet4 i .chamber opens directly and without restric-:

tion into the foam Vpipe 18, the interior diamel chambergthe outlet orifice of said chamber,

.where the threads 19 are located, is the larg.

est diameter of'vsaid chamber.

By means'of the foregoing constructionthe solutions are brought together to produce `foam in the most efficient manner7 i. e, by

impingement,v and Vinthe Smallest possible compass, so that the device is easily portable and constitutes the least obstruction and dran,l`

when pulled over the ground or a Hoor. It 1s, at the same time, easily formed as a casting and is very strong and entirely l'ree of any likelihood of becoming derangedor in! jured in use. rlhe inlet hose couplers 21 and 22 are hanged at 23 so ythat they are retained in the grooves 24 accordingv to' usual hose y coupler design and Withwashers 25.

yThe following` is claimed as new:

they. 'arek also provided In apparatus of the classdescribed, a onepiece mixer connecter comprising a central chamber having an elongated trough shaped stantially equall to the minor cross-sectional dimension of the trough, the side Walls of the inlet Chambers constituting,` the end Walls of the trough, opposedl openings in said end Walls for producing iinpingement mixing of vthe ioun-makingI solutions anda hose coupling mounted on the inlet eiidfof each' of said 'iiiletcheinhe-rs.

Signed at New YorinV in the county of New York and State ofNeW York,V this 7th of April7 A. l). 1921. ORLANDO R. ERWIN.

WILLIS D. VITTER. 

